Prison Ministry

The Health and Social Care Committee yesterday published the findings of their Inquiry into Prison Healthcare.

The report explores the state of health and care in prisons and identifies violence, self-harm, overcrowding, staff shortages and the increasing availability and use of psychoactive substances in prisons as having a severe negative impact upon the health, mental health, care and safety of prisoners across England and Wales.

Bishop Richard Moth, Catholic Bishop for Prisons and Mental Health, commenting on the report has said:

"I welcome this timely report into the state of health and care in our prisons. I particularly welcome the recognition of the positive contribution chaplains make to the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners.

"While chaplaincy does not provide an alternative to professional mental health services, it does provide support to prisoners facing mental health concerns and can therefore reduce the risk of self-harm and suicide within prison. As such, chaplains often play a significant part in the mental health provision in prison.

"The report also states that there should be ‘sufficient resourcing of community mental health services so that people are not sent to prison because of a lack of appropriate community mental health care’. This aligns with a recommendation in our own recently published report, A Journey of Hope, for the Government to ‘provide sufficient funding for alternatives to custody for those with severe mental health conditions’.

"It is vital that the recommendations of this Inquiry are put into action to ensure that the deprivation of liberty in prisons does not mean the deprivation of the care to which all people are entitled."